À la mode

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À la mode is a French phrase meaning in the prevailing fashion.

However, most Americans are familiar with this phrase having the meaning "with ice cream". This phrase comes from the late 19th century, when many French terms were just beginning to be used in the common North American English Language. The phrase is thought to have originated with an American tourist who ordered pie with ice cream, which, at the time, was very fashionable in France. The tourist heard somebody referring to the pie as "à la mode". The tourist, then, assumed that "à la mode" meant with ice cream.[1]